Mixing-picker



No Model.)

A. S. LYON. MIXING PIOKER.

No. 435,147. Patented Aug. 26, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALVIN S. LYON, OF LOVELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

MIXING-PICKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 435,147, dated August 26, 1890.

Application filed March 17,1890- Serial No. 344,176. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALVIN S LYON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mixing- Pickers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mixing-pickers for mixing together different kinds and qualities of fibers, as cotton and wool or hair and wool; and it consists in the combinations and devices hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan of two pickers-such as are used for opening and cleaning wool and worstedbelted to each other and connected to each other by a trunk,through which the fiber passes from the picker first in operation to the second picker, and other trunks, through which the fiber passes to the so-called gauze-room; Fig. 2, a side elevation of what is shown in Fig. 1. i

In blending or mixing different kinds of fibcrsas cotton and wool or wool and hair it is customary to pass the mixture several times through the same picker, and even then much difficulty is experienced in getting a uniform blending of the component fibers. If the mixing is not properly done, the yarns subsequently made from the mixture will be uneven in diameter and strength andin color, if the fibers are of different colors. Again, in the ordinary process of mixing the fibers, a great deal of time is necessarily expended in passing the mixture through the same ma chine repeatedly, and the fibers are more or less injured by the repeated operation of the machine.

By the use of the improvement hereinafter described I am enabled thoroughly to mix the fibers at substantially a single operation, although I use two pickers in the operation, using them, however, in such a manner that only a single feeding of the stock is necessary and only a portion of the fibers pass through both machines.

In the drawings,A A represents two pickers of ordinary construction-such as are used in mixing fibersarranged, preferably, one behind the other, as shown, each picker being provided with a feedapron,such feed-aprons being shown at (666, Fig. l, and with feedrolls, one of which is shown at a in Fig. 1, the shaft of the upper feedrolls in the two machines having, respect-ivel gears a a secured thereto and engaged by pinions a a secured to band-pulleys a a concentrically therewith, said band-pulleys being connected by belts a a to other band-pulleys a a, se-

cured to larger band-pulleys (1- a concen- All of the parts above named are of the usual construction and operation, except that it is not customary to drive one picker from another.

The picker-cylinders a a are of the usual construction, consisting of spiders 01- 01, on the picker-shafts, each having the free ends of its spiders or radial arms cL a united by bars a (633, on which are arranged teeth a (1. which are slightly hooked in the direction in which they travel. The shafts of the pickercylinders are, as usual, journaled in brackets a (r supported on the sides a 0, of the frame, and are covered by bonnets a a in the usual manner, said bonnets being open at the sides at a (0 in segments of small circles concentric with the pickershafts in such a manner as to allowthe air to rush into the bonnets to supply the partial vacuum caused by the air being thrown outward by the rapid revolution of the cylinders through trunks B 13, which open outward from said bonnets and from curved gratings a a, which, with said bonnets and with the sides of the frames, form in effect fan-cases, within which the picker-cylinders serve as fans or blowers. The trunk B leads from picker A into the so-called gauze-room O in the usual manner, said room being of the usual construction and having windows (not shown) covered by a thin or gauzy fabric, which allows the escape of airfrom said picker IOO , escape of fibers.

A through said windows, but prevents the The trunk B of the picker A which first operates on the fibers, instead of discharging into the gauze-room in the usual manner discharges into a box or hood D. preferably having a backwardly-inclined top d and vertical sidesd, the bottom of said box being the feed-apron of the picker A. Above the rear end of the trunk B another trunk B leads out of the box D and extends over the picker A into the gauze-room above the rear end of the trunk B.

When the machines are operated together, as above described, the heavy masses of partially-opened fibers from the picker A will pass through the trunk B and will fall upon the feed-apron of the second picker A, and by the movement of said apron will be carried through said second picker, while the fibers sufficiently opened by the operation of the first picker A, will be-carried from the box D through the trunk B directly into the gauze-room, because the rear opening of said box D is in itself too small to discharge the blast of air from the trunk B, and besides said rear opening of said box D is choked by the feed-rolls of the picker A and by the fibers passing between said feed-rolls. The trunks B B are arranged one below the other, with their discharge ends I) b in close proximity and at such an angle with each other as to cause the fibers from each ofsaid trunks to strike into the path of the fibers from the other of said trunks, and thus to mix said fibers thoroughly. As far the lighter fibers are concerned, the trunks B B and hood D form in effect a single continuous trunk or fiberpassage from the picker A to the gauze-room.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of two pickers with separate fiber-trunks, one of said trunks discharging from each of said pickers, each trunk being arranged to discharge fibers across the path of the fibers discharged from the other trunk, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of two pickers, a fibertrunk discharging the product of one picker into a feed-box or hoodwith whieh the other picker is provided, anothertrunk discharging the product of said second picker, and a third trunk leading from said hood to discharge the lighter portions of the product of said first picker, as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of two pickers, a fibertrunk discharging the product of one picker above afeed-apron with which the other pickeris provided, another trunk discharging the product of said second picker, a box or hood arranged above said feed-apron, and a third trunk leading from said hood to discharge the lighter portions of the product of said first picker, as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination of two pickers, a fibertrunk discharging the product of one picker aboveafeed-apron with which the other picker is provided, another trunk discharging the pro duct of said second picker, a box or hood arranged above said feed-apron, and a third trunk leading from said hood to discharge the lighter portions of the p roduet of said first picker, the discharge ends of the two trunks last named being arranged to discharge the contents of each trunk across the path of the fibers discharged from the other trunk, as and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, this 10th day of March, A. D. 1890.

ALVIN S. LYON. Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, MYRTIE O. BEALs. 

